What is a footprint map? These maps depict the historical relationship between a program and its community, state and region. The areas incorporated in the footprint have most consistently attracted program graduates and may not have had as many family physicians if the program had not existed. In this regard, the footprint may indicate an area's measure of dependence on the program for its family physicians. Areas with graduates that are outside the footprint are not unimportant, as many may be underserved areas. Residency programs have used these maps for internal reflection on whether they are fulfilling their mission, and to demonstrate their value to hospital and community leaders.
Footprinting Method: To create a footprint map, we calculate the number of graduates from a program in each county, rank these counties from highest to lowest, and select counties to be shaded that have the highest number of graduates until 70 percent of all graduates are accounted for. For example, if a program has 100 active graduates practicing in the U.S., and 50 are practicing in County A, 15 in County B, five in County C, and three each in Counties D-M, only Counties A, B, and C (which constitute 70 percent of graduates) will be shaded in the residency footprint map. This methodology, which borrows from business industry literature on market service area, is thought to be a reasonable standard for gauging the core service area of a residency program. Find more information on residency footprinting.
Data Sources: We use physician practice location information from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile and graduate medical education information from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). From a geocoded masterfile, we've extracted practice location (including county) and specialty information for each active physician practicing in the United States, and from the AAFP database the residency program codes for each Family Physician in the United States.
Please e-mail the Graham Center (policy@aafp.org) with questions.
